09 Feb 2005
[Why is my life full of problems related to money, relations, stress etc? Why do all the decisions that I take always go wrong?]
Man proposes and God disposes to show that you should not be too involved in worldly affairs and that you should turn to Him. Your failures in the world show that God is very interested in your case and is constantly trying to divert you towards Him. The failures and problems are your real friends, who will turn you to God. Success with fame is the real enemy, which drags you away from God. When Lord Krishna asked His aunt Kunti, to ask for a boon, she asked Krishna to continue giving her only problems in her life. Her argument was that she remembered the Lord always in difficulties. She wanted to remember God continuously. All the things in this world proceed according to the wheel of deeds (Karma Chakra). You cannot change the destined route of things in this nature. They reflect the systematic administration of the rules and regulations laid down by the Lord.
You cannot change the nature of the external atmosphere. You must cut your mental attachment to the external atmosphere and remain peaceful. With the peaceful mind, you must concentrate on God. You are standing in the sea and meditating upon the sun. You cannot stop the waves. The waves in the sea should not move your mind. Your body or your clothes may be moved but not your mind. For this you must think that you are not the clothes and you are not the body. You are the soul, which is pure awareness. All the external bonds are related only to your body and mind (feelings). This is called as self-realization [and comes] through self-analysis. Shankara stressed this first part of the spiritual path because it is common to all the human beings in this world.
The attainment of God is the second part of the path. Mental worry is like a fever. Attainment of God is like attaining special strength. All the fever-patients want to get rid of the fever. After liberation from the fever, some of the patients may try to get special strength by taking special tonics. Ramanuja and Madhva stressed this second part of the spiritual path through the propagation of devotion. But, the first part is common to all the patients as stressed by Shankara. Self-analysis is like the antibiotic medicine for the fever. First you must get rid of the fever. Without reducing the fever, you cannot proceed to take the tonics to attain special strength. For the first part, there is no need of even the concept of God. Getting rid of the fever is peace. Attaining of God is bliss. Peace is required to get bliss. But peace should not be mistaken for bliss. The soul is in your body. If you attain the soul, it is as if you have attained your own money, which was misplaced, in your own house. When you get it, your worry is removed and you become peaceful. You need not become happy because it was your own money. But when you find some money on the road, outside your house, you become happy.
The first part is simply avoiding loss and the second part is attaining profit. The Advaita scholars are very happy when they have found their misplaced money in their own houses. They feel as if they have gained money from others. They are satisfied with a ‘no loss’ situation and feel that, that itself is a profit. They invest money in business and want only their original money at the end of business. They say that this condition itself is the maximum profit. They deny that merchants can actually earn more money than their original invested amounts i.e. make a profit. Of course, these innocent scholars are better than the merchants who are in loss; mentally worried people. But they think that their peace itself is bliss. For them, ‘no loss’ is the only profit. I am therefore, advising you to take the antibiotic, which is the self-analysis as the first drug. Even for this drug to act properly and immediately, the grace of God is essential as said by Shankara (Ishwara anugrahaadeva…).